THE BASICS:
- Records: MIT (2-1); Nichols College (3-2)
- Scores: MIT 13, Nichols College 7
- Location: Dudley, Mass. (NC Baseball Field)
- The Lead: Led by a four-home run game by senior Matt Johnston (Portola Valley, Calif.) and eight homers as a team, the MIT baseball team came away with a 13-7 road win at Nichols College on Monday afternoon. Johnston's performance ties the NCAA Division III single-game record, which was last accomplished by David May of Merchant Marine in 2009 season.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- MIT took a 2-0 lead with one out in the first as Johnston homered to right center to drive in first-year Erik Anderson (Palos Verdes, Calif.). The Bison answered with a single run in the bottom of the inning as DJ Caron singled through the left side to lead off the frame and scored on a double play to cut the advantage in half.
- Johnston added another two-run homer in the third, followed immediately by a solo shot by junior Andrew Krause (St. Louis, Mo.) for the 5-1 lead. Nichols chipped away at the Engineer lead with single runs in the third, fourth and sixth innings before the MIT offense roared back to life.
- In the seventh, Johnston and Krause homered off of Brendan Duffy before he gave way to Brodie Altiere in relief. In his first batter, MIT senior Thomas Allison (Kingwood, Texas) greeted Altiere with the team's sixth homer of the game to put the Engineers in front at 8-4.
- MIT added another two-run homer by Johnston in the eighth and a solo shot by sophomore Nick Aiello (Freehold, N.J.) in the ninth for the 11-4 advantage. RBI singles from first-year Kyle Sonandres (Torrance, Calif.) and Johnston closed out the scoring the Engineers in the ninth, while Kyle Bouchard launched a three-run homer in the ninth for Nichols to account for the 13-7 final.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Johnston's performance breaks the MIT single-game record for home runs that was previously held by Austin Filiere (2015), Creed Mangrum (2014) and Jeff Weissman (1967). In addition, the Engineers shattered the previous single-game team record of five for home runs as that came vs. Wentworth in 2004.
- Johnston finished the game 5-for-6 with four runs scored and eight runs batted in. Aiello also registered four hits, while Sonandres, Anderson, Krause, Allison and first-year Graham Cartwright (La Jolla, Calif.) had two hits each.
- For Nichols, Caron was 2-for-5 with three runs scored in the leadoff spot and Bouchard was 2-for-4 with three RBI in the No. 2 spot.
- MIT starter Adam Katz (Mt. Kisco, N.Y.) struck out three in 2.1 innings pitched, followed by senior Jared Tramontano (Corona, Calif.) in three innings of four-hit relief to move to 2-0 on the season. Junior Tommy Hannan (San Marino, Calif.) threw 2.2 innings of perfect relief with two strikeouts as well.
- Nichols starter Justin Hurley took the loss to fall to 0-2 as he allowed five runs on nine hits in four innings of play.
UP NEXT:
- MIT hits the road for a four-game trip in Austin, Texas as the Engineers begin the road swing with an 8 p.m. Eastern start at Concordia (Texas) on Friday, March 13th.
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